<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The design of low energy buildings requires accurate thermal simulation software to assess the heating and cooling loads. Such designs should sustain thermal comfort for occupants and promote less energy usage over the life time of any building. One of the house energy rating used in Australia is AccuRate, star rating tool to assess and compare the thermal performance of various buildings where the heating and cooling loads are calculated based on fixed operational temperatures between 20 °C to 25 °C to sustain thermal comfort for the occupants. However, these fixed settings for the time and temperatures considerably increase the heating and cooling loads. On the other hand the adaptive thermal model applies a broader range of weather conditions, interacts with the occupants and promotes low energy solutions to maintain thermal comfort. This can be achieved by natural ventilation (opening window/doors), suitable clothes, shading and low energy heating/cooling solutions for the occupied spaces (rooms). These activities will save significant amount of operating energy what can to be taken into account to predict energy consumption for a building. Most of the buildings thermal assessment tools depend on energy-based approaches to predict the thermal performance of any building e.g. AccuRate in Australia. This approach encourages the use of energy to maintain thermal comfort. This paper describes the advantages of a temperature-based approach to assess the building’s thermal performance (using an adaptive thermal comfort model) over energy based approach (AccuRate Software used in Australia). The temperature-based approach was validated and compared with the energy-based approach using four full scale housing test modules located in Newcastle, Australia (Cavity Brick (CB), Insulated Cavity Brick (InsCB), Insulated Brick Veneer (InsBV) and Insulated Reverse Brick Veneer (InsRBV)) subjected to a range of seasonal conditions in a moderate climate. The time required for heating and/or cooling using the adaptive thermal comfort approach and AccuRate predictions were estimated. Significant savings (of about 50 %) in energy consumption in minimising the time required for heating and cooling were achieved by using the adaptive thermal comfort model.</p></abstract>

The design of low energy buildings requires accurate thermal simulation software to assess the heating and cooling loads. Such designs should sustain thermal comfort for occupants and promote less energy usage over the life time of any building. One of the house energy rating used in Australia is AccuRate, star rating tool to assess and compare the thermal performance of various buildings where the heating and cooling loads are calculated based on fixed operational temperatures between 20 °C to 25 °C to sustain thermal comfort for the occupants. However, these fixed settings for the time and temperatures considerably increase the heating and cooling loads. On the other hand the adaptive thermal model applies a broader range of weather conditions, interacts with the occupants and promotes low energy solutions to maintain thermal comfort. This can be achieved by natural ventilation (opening window/doors), suitable clothes, shading and low energy heating/cooling solutions for the occupied spaces (rooms). These activities will save significant amount of operating energy what can to be taken into account to predict energy consumption for a building. Most of the buildings thermal assessment tools depend on energy-based approaches to predict the thermal performance of any building e.g. AccuRate in Australia. This approach encourages the use of energy to maintain thermal comfort. This paper describes the advantages of a temperature-based approach to assess the building’s thermal performance (using an adaptive thermal comfort model) over energy based approach (AccuRate Software used in Australia). The temperature-based approach was validated and compared with the energy-based approach using four full scale housing test modules located in Newcastle, Australia (Cavity Brick (CB), Insulated Cavity Brick (InsCB), Insulated Brick Veneer (InsBV) and Insulated Reverse Brick Veneer (InsRBV)) subjected to a range of seasonal conditions in a moderate climate. The time required for heating and/or cooling using the adaptive thermal comfort approach and AccuRate predictions were estimated. Significant savings (of about 50 %) in energy consumption in minimising the time required for heating and cooling were achieved by using the adaptive thermal comfort model.

The Significance of Temperature Based Approach Over the Energy Based Approaches in the Buildings Thermal Assessment

School of Natural Resources Engineering and Management

Priority Research Centre for FRONTIER ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND UTILISATION

Environmental and Climate Technologies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The design of low energy buildings requires accurate thermal simulation software to assess the heating and cooling loads. Such designs should sustain thermal...

The Significance of Temperature Based Approach Over the Energy Based Approaches in the Buildings Thermal Assessment

Published Online: Jul 14, 2017

Page range: 39 - 50

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rtuect-2017-0004

Keywords
Building thermal simulation, adaptive thermal comfort, sustainable building design

© 2017 Riga Technical University

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Significance of Temperature Based Approach Over the Energy Based Approaches in the Buildings Thermal Assessment

Published Online: Jul 14, 2017

Page range: 39 - 50

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rtuect-2017-0004

KeywordsBuilding thermal simulation, adaptive thermal comfort, sustainable building design

© 2017 Riga Technical University

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Building thermal simulation, adaptive thermal comfort, sustainable building design